Nearly three months after Kelsey Townsend gave birth to her fourth child, the 32-year-old Wisconsin woman was finally face to face with her.
Lucy, now with bright, alert eyes, gave him a smile.
“Hello. I love you. I love you so much. Yes, I missed you, ”Kelsey Townsend told him.
Townsend was in a medically induced coma with COVID-19 when she gave birth to Lucy by cesarean section on Nov. 4, shortly after arriving at St. Louis Hospital. Mary’s from SSM Health to Madison. He ended up spending 75 days alive and undergoing lung support. He finally met Lucy on January 27, the day Kelsey was discharged from Madison University Hospital.
“We related instantly when we met. He gave me a big smile and looked at me like he knew exactly who I was and that made me feel so happy, ”said Poynette’s wife, Wisconsin.
Dr. Jennifer Krupp, a specialist in Maternal Fetal Medicine and Medical Director of Women’s and Newborn Health in the SSM Health Region of Wisconsin, said it has been rare for the hospital to deliver a baby to such a sick COVID mother. -19.
Kelsey Townsend’s oxygen saturation was very low when she arrived at the hospital (so low that it could damage the fetus’ brain and other organs) and her skin dyed gray and blue, Dr. Thomas Littlefield told email on Wednesday, so her baby had to be delivered as soon as possible.
Doctors thought Townsend might need a double lung transplant in late December. But then it started to improve, so much so that they moved her from the intensive care unit, removed her from a ventilator in mid-January, and removed her from the transplant waiting list.
Townsend’s husband, Derek Townsend, described the experience as a “big roller coaster.”
“There were many nights when I received phone calls late at night and early in the morning, and the doctors informed me that they had done everything possible to support Kelsey and that they were having difficulty stabilizing,” he said. to say. “So there were many times we thought we would lose her.”
Derek Townsend says even his daughter seemed to notice that someone was missing when his wife was still hospitalized.
“The last three months with Lucy, you know, her head is always moving and always looking. And I told Kelsey that I think she’s constantly looking for her, ”he said.
The couple contracted COVID-19 despite taking precautions, Derek Townsend said. As he got better, his wife got worse. That was when they went to the hospital.
“Family is everything to me,” Kelsey Townsend said. “So I have everything to live here and go home. There was no doubt that he would not. “